Banks Brace for Big Loan Defaults by US, Global Customers

NEW YORK (AP) — The major banks in the U.S. are anticipating a flood of loan defaults as households and business customers take a big financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs raised the funds they set aside for bad loans by nearly $20 billion combined in the first quarter, earnings reports released over the past two days show.

And Wall Street expects that figure may go even higher next quarter, a possibility bank executives acknowledged on earnings conference calls.

BofA, Citi and Goldman each said Wednesday that quarterly profit dropped more than 40%.